Head-protecting cap



May 25,- 194s.

E. MAURO HEAD-PROTECTING CAP Filed Nov. 9, 1944' n INVENTOR. BY Eugene /Y'lauraY ffl/@M Attorney Patented May 25, 1948 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,442,052 HEAD-PROTECTING CAP Eugene Mauro, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Application November 9, 1944, Serial No. 562,623

2 Claims. l

I have invented an improved cap for baseball players; and more particularly a protective cap to prevent injury if a batter is hit on the head with a ball thrown by the pitcher.

An object of the invention is to provide a cap which shields the head and enables a batter to have a feeling of safety and complete condence when he takes his stand at the home plate.

Another object is to provide a ball players cap which is inexpensive to produce, and easy to wear. It comprises a cap with internal reinforcing means at both sides, rigid and shaped to t the side of the head and completely enclosed by the material of which the cap is made.

Other objects and advantages of the invention are more fully set forth in the ensuing description and drawings, and the novel features of the improvement are defined in the appended claims. The details, however, and the arrangement of parts and members may be changed Without altering the essential character of the invention or exceeding the scope and meanings of the terms in which the claims are expressed.

On said drawings:

Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal View of a head-protecting cap according to this invention; and

Figure 2 is a top plan View of the protecting member on a reduced scale and showing the cap structure in dotted lines.

The cap is shown at I, with a visor 2 for the eyes. It is made of any suitable cloth or the like, with outer and inner layers 3 and 3a.

To form outer layer 3, pieces 3' approximately sector-shaped are sewed together along their side or radial edges. Three such pieces for example are used on each side, making six in all. They all meet at a central point 4 on top. The inner layer or part 3a is made of four such pieces 3b. It extends over the rear and sides, but not the front of the cap, terminating at lines indicated at 3c, adjacent opposite ends of the visor. The two layers form a pocket in the cap, having openings at said lines 3c.

Within this pocket provided by the layers 3 and 3a is a protecting member comprising a single piece of stiff, strong nbre 5 which extends substantially throughout the extent of the pocket from adjacent one side opening thereof, around the back of the cap, and to adjacent the other side opening of the pocket. This member has wide or high front ends 5a and a low connecting part 5b at the middle or rear portion thereof. It is concave on the inner faces, especially at ends 5a, to nt the curvature of the head.

The member or shell 5 is retained in any suitable way, as by turning in the lower edge of the outer layer 3, and gluing or stitching. A sweat band 6 forming another inner layer is secured inside the cap around the lower edge over the layers 3 and 3a.

The protective member made of fibre covers the sides of the head just above the ears.

The protective member 5 can obviously be put either in the pocket between the parts 3 and 3a as shown or outside of this pocket, by disposing it between the band or layer 6 and the layer 3a, with the band 6 overlapping the lower edge of the member.

The protector cap shown and described herein can be turned out at very low cost and is light but effective, so that it will fully safeguard but never handicap the player wearing it. The invention is not limited to the precise design presented. In practice the device may be altered in various ways consistent with the real nature of the invention.

Having described my invention, what I believe to be new is:

1. A protective cap comprising two fabric layers at the rear and opposite sides thereof forming a pocket having opposed side openings adjacent the front of the cap, and a substantially rigid protecting member removably disposed in said pocket and extending from adjacent one opening thereof, around the rear of the cap to adjacent the other opening in the pocket, said protecting member including opposed side portions of substantial vertical extent for disposal at opposite sides of a wearers head and adjacent the openings in the pocket, and a rear portion of reduced vertical extent connecting said side portions, said protective member being secured along its lower edge to the outer of said layers.

2. The combination of a cap having an inner layer of flexible material and a protecting member'disposed between the body portion of the cap and the layer of flexible material, said member being of substantially rigid material and being of generally arcuate form in plan, the member including opposed end portions for conformity with the sides of the head of a wearer and an intermediate portion for conformity with a part of the head of the wearer between said end portions, the lower edge of said member being substantially in a plane and the upper edge of the member curving upwardly from said intermediate portion toward the end portions and thence downwardly adjacent the extremities of the end portions in the provision of portions of substantial depth for protecting the sides of the head.

EUGENEMAUROI.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record ih the le of this patent: 

